The present invention relates to assessing the degree of over or under activity of the coagulation system, and thus to monitoring patients on anti-coagulant therapy, and to screening patients to predict the degree of a patient""s propensity to suffer a thrombosis, such as deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, coronary thrombosis, strokes, familial thrombophilia, overweight middle aged men, women taking contraceptive pills, diabetics, patients suffering renal failure and the like, as well as the state of the coagulation system as a whole.
The manifestation of cardiovascular disease in the form of coronaries and strokes is the major cause of death or disability in the Western world. Consequently great efforts have been made to discover the causes of cardiovascular disease and to identify risk factors in the hope of identifying vulnerable members of the population with a view to taking preventive action.
Surprisingly although tests have been devised to measure a number of risk factors, there is no commercially available test of coagulation which reflects the net effect of the interaction of all these factors on the coagulation system as a whole in the context of the conditions likely to precipitate a thrombosis.
The present invention is based on the discovery that adenosine diphosphate (ADP) secreted by platelets and bound to their surface receptors, is the physiological thromboplastin.
According to the present invention there is provided a method of in vitro screening of a patient, which comprises measuring the accelerated whole blood clotting time and assessing the degree of over or underactivity of the coagulation system. Thus, the present invention relies on accelerated whole blood clotting time (AWBCT) to enable assessment of the risk of thrombosis.